SaintTex

I have been as optimistic as anyone on our top 4 chances.. but that dream is kaput after today. We needed to go 7-1-1 to have any kind of realistic chance. so now we need to go 7-1-0 the rest of the way out? No way. not with our current form... 5 goals in the last 9 matches? sheesh. like most said; 5th is still very well in the realm of possibility. Finishing ahead of 2 teams that tried to tear us apart last summer is now the GOAL.

perfectly summed up.

It's not completely crazy to think that we could win our next 3 matches (Everton, Hull, Stoke) and ManU could lose 2 (Arsenal, City) out of their next 3. That would put both teams at 62 points 3 matches from now. If we are shooting for 4th place: I think 72 points will get you 4th place this season. So, sitting at 53 points, Saints need 19 points out of 24 possible points remaining. Where will those points come from? Everton (a) - W Hull (h) - W Stroke (a) - W Tottenham (h) - D Sunderland (a) - W Leicester (a) - W Aston Villa (h) - W Man City (a) - L No room for error, but those predictions are not completely outrageous. Admittedly, Stoke and Everton away are tricky. I think a draw with Tottenham at home is reasonable. A loss away at City is certainly expected. going for 5th, 6th place: Saints have to do just slightly better than Tottenham and/or Liverpool over the next 8 games. Saint will more than likely have the advantage of goal differential in case we end up even with either after 38 games. Liverpool still has to play Chelsea (a) and Arsenal (a) and Stoke (a) and only has 3 home games left. Still has FA Cup to deal with. Tottenham plays the Saints (a) and Man City (h). Also has only 3 home games left. Tottenham's schedule is nearly the same in difficulty as Southampton's. Liverpool's is more difficult. coming in 7th place: Currently 10 points separate 7th and 8th place with 8 matches left. I think 7th place is pretty well sown up with just one more win.

I like that it is the early game on Saturday. They pressure gets piled on when you already know most of results from your competition over the weekend.

yep, if we take care of business the next 3 matches [Everton (a), Hull (h) and Stoke (a), big ask, I know], we may only be a point or two off 4th place when we play Tottenham.

Well, Koeman and Watson have two weeks to sort it out. Neither will be on international duty.. work 'em for the next two weeks and Koeman will start the one they feel gives us the best chance to win. 8 games left and 7th place pretty well secure. I doubt they bring anyone new in. --oops, is Watson going to be occupied with the national team the next two weeks?

Pelle was active and was in the mix the whole match. I'll take a striker who gets chances versus one who doesn't. Bertrand man of the match for me. The left side dominated the match today. Davis also has a very good game. K. Davis stepped up bigtime, although his casual footwork scared the hell out of me. As far as the result: Not really much to complain about, unless you like to complain. a. we got three points b. we kept a clean sheet c. we retain 6th place. d. We got our 16th win of the season (last year we had 15 wins) e. Wanyama didn't pick up a yellow

no need to worry about that anymore. 7th will go to Europa unless someone other than Liverpool or Arsenal win the FA Cup.

a lot depends on style of play. Similar to basketball, you are going to go to the free throw line a lot more if you are aggressive and taking the ball to the hoop. Does your style of play involve taking a lot of jump shots from the 3 point line? You aren't going to get many trips to the free throw line playing that way.

League stats through 29 games in 2014-2015 Lallana - 18 starts | 4 goals | 3 assists | rating 7.06 38 games in 2013-2014 Lallana - 37 starts | 9 goals | 5 assists | rating 7.24 In fact.. of the big 5 who left: Shaw, Lambert, Lovren, and Lallana will all have worse player ratings and less playing time this season than they did the year before at Southampton. Chambers will come out about the same for this season as he did last.

Honestly, let's just secure 6th place. I have no idea what I would have to do to my soul in order to root for the Scousers in a Liverpool v. Reading FA Cup Final.

that is pretty amazing. I am optimistic for a good run to finish out the season

Forster had a good game. the good - I am not sure how you can complain about his positioning in the second half. For every stop he was in perfect position. He had to react quickly to well struck balls, but he didn't have to dive or leave his feet to do so. the bad - I felt like he completely gave up on the Costa goal. 9 times out of 10 that ball is going to go be headed to the far post. Forster was leaning to the near post. Plus, his body language during the play was as if he was griping at the bad defensive positioning (which there was) but hey, you know, make the save, and then gripe at your defense. I almost feel like he sold out the team on his effort, as he knew it would mostly be blamed as a defensive error. Make the play Forster! That being said... I think he is a very good goalkeeper and only going to get better. Who, not in the Big6, would you trade him out for?

Tottenham - goals against for the season: 42 Southampton - goals against for the season: 21

well the title of this thread was Weekend 14/15 Mar - Other Games. Thought that would be a pretty good place to speculate about what others are doing.

so of the remaining weekend games that matter to us: 1) Obviously, we want to beat Chelsea 2) again, obviously, we want a Liverpool loss 3) Spurs/United.. that is a tough one. ........a) Spurs win, they stay ahead of us, but then we are 1 point off of fourth (if we beat Chelsea) ........b) Man U win, we pass by Spurs into 6th place or even 5th place if Liverpool also loses, but we are 4 points off fourth place (if we beat Chelsea) ........c) They draw, we pass by Spurs into 6th place or even 5th place if Liverpool also loses, but then we are 2 points off fourth place (if we beat Chelsea) I guess the draw is the best, but you also got to factor in the joy of Pochettino losing. decisions, decisions... what do you root for?

he should incorporate a Cruyff Turn into those moves. Cassette tape? Is this from the '80s?

this would be a good get. I don't think he would get much interest from the top 6, with Tottenham being maybe the lone exception, as those other clubs are going to look to acquire "marquee players". If he wants to play, but also move up in the PL club pecking order, I would think Southampton would be a good fit for him.

12 La Liga matches appearances : 1 start | 11 of the bench 209 minutes this season. (Matt Targett has more EPL minutes this season) I don't think the guy really wants to play. He knew he would only get table scraps if he moved to RM, but he went anyway.

----------------Forster------------------ Clyne--Fonte--Alderwiereld--Bertrand ----Wanyama-------Schneiderlin------ --------------Djuricic------------------- Mane----------Long--------------Tadic bench: K. Davis, Elia, Pelle, Yoshida, Gardos, Davis, JWP None of this 3-5-2 nonsense. Go with a 4-2-1-3. I would start Forster, Clyne, Fonte, Toby, Bertrand, Vic, Morgan every game here on out - if healthy - without fail. So really, it is about finding the right places/scheme for the other 4. Djuricic has the creativity to play the #10. Tadic needs to be on the left. Drop Pelle. Mane will have to adapt on the right.

i disagree. I think the pressure should be there. if we had beaten West Brom along with CP, you might have a case; but we picked up a loss we didn't expect, we need to pick up a win we don't expect. going into the match against Chelsea on Sunday we could be in 7th place.

this might work. Southampton 9 - 0 CP -----------------------------Forster-------------------------------- -----------------------Fonte--------Toby-------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- Clyne-Elia-Wanyama-Djuricic-Long-Scheiderlin-Mane-Bertrand

Just drop Pelle so you have 11. Seriously though. no more 3-5-2. Clyne and Bertrand are going to go forward regardless. having a third CB just takes away a player we could use up front. --------------------- Forster----------------------- Clyne---------Fonte--------Toby--------Bertrand ----------Wanyama---------Scheinderlin-------- ----------------------Djuricic----------------------- ----------Elia---------Pelle---------Mane----------

Sadly, what we get for a 7th place finish is another summer exodus... pretty good, but not good enough to keep our best players who have the quality to "move up" to clubs that 1) can pay large wages and 2) play European football. of course, these are the very players that make a 7th place finish possible. And around and around we go. 2 steps forward, 2 steps back. 2 steps forward, 2 steps back. 2 steps forward, 2 steps back. 2 steps forward, 2 steps back.